Listening for the Still Speaking God
The wonder of Acts 2 was hearing, not just speaking.
Good morning! I’m on vacation visiting family this week, so I’m sharing a re-post from Pentecost Sunday from two years ago. The biblical Pentecost story usually focuses on the miraculous speaking in different languages as God’s Spirit comes upon the disciples. But I think it is more amazing when people hear rather than tell.
Acts 2:1-18 Pentecost Sunday 2022
A big question about Pentecost is not just, “Did it happen?” But is it still happening? Are we celebrating a past event or the Spirit's continuing work in the Church? Is God still speaking? God is still speaking, which has been our “branding” statement for the United Church of Christ for over a decade. It is more than marketing; it is a core theological conviction. We believe truth continues to unfold, and God’s Spirit beckons us. God did not say everything that needed to be told two generations after Jesus, put it all in one book, and then decided to focus on a rebellion in the Dagoba star system. We can’t just memorize the 10 Commandments and think we have wrapped up all we need to know. As William Sloan Coffin put it, too many people use the Bible like a drunk uses a light post – more for support than illumination. God is still speaking, which means there are still burning bushes to see, still, small voices to hear; somewhere, there is another Isaiah whose lips have been touched by burning coal, who is ready to say, “Here I am, send me.” The Spirit of Moses lives on in the Spirit of Martin, who also went to the mountaintop.
The early Puritans who set out on the Mayflower could not imagine our issues – from global climate change to privacy issues on the internet to the inclusion of various gender or sexual identities. But their pastor, John Robinson, said as they boarded that ship from one world to another, “God has yet more light and truth to break forth from the Holy Word.” Those words are a theological vessel that allows us to travel across time, blown by the winds of the Spirit, to adapt and change and love as God intends.
“God is still speaking” is a Pentecostal statement. When you think about the word Pentecostal, what comes to mind? Speaking in tongues, rock bands, and many hands in the air. I worshiped with charismatics in college, and it was fun, but my path to God runs more like Quakers. Quakers emphasize listening for God and silently searching for the inner light. If we genuinely believe in a still-speaking God, paying attention and listening must be a spiritual practice.
Listening is a part of the Pentecost story. While the disciples were busy speaking in tongues, the crowd was just as surprised that they could hear in their language. This was a crowd of believers, questioners, and questioning believers. Verses 7-8 tell us:
Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear each of us in our native language?
Great question! How do we hear each other? Galileans communicate, and Medes, Parthians, Libyans, and Cappadocians can all hear. Google these places, and you will see the expanse of the ancient Roman world. We might ask -How can Christians, Muslims, and Jews hear each other? How can Democrats and Republicans, no wait, how can Democrats and Democrats, or Republicans and Republicans hear each other? How can parents and children hear each other across the digital divide, and spouses listen to what the other really has to say? We speak the same language, but that doesn’t mean we can hear another person’s experience.
I learned to listen all wrong. As a white male with many privileges and a graduate education, I learned to listen for information so I could come up with good ideas, my ideas, for better ways to live and do things. Basically, I was trained in seminary to give good advice. That is not so terrible, though it did condition me to fix people. I was not taught to ask if people wanted to be fixed. I was certainly not trained to help people find their answers. Now I know, though I am still a recovering fixer. Are there any other “recovering fixers” out there? We need our support group. The most powerful thing I learned in a psychology class is that empathetic and non-judgmental listening creates the potential for healing, insight, and transformation.
My training as a professional life coach has been a laboratory for learning to listen. The first assumption I learned is that every person can be whole and complete and has the possibility of transformation within them. Using biblical language, I would say that everyone is created in the image of God and, therefore, emits God in some way. We all have a little divine DNA. Here is the second thing I learned. A good coach seldom gives advice. Even good advice can be wrong when it short-circuits someone’s process. Do you know how hard it is to have someone seek your help and not give them advice? All you can do is mirror what you are hearing or ask questions. To be honest, could you do it? At first, I felt like I was failing people. But I realize that real change happens more from listening, and it is a relief not to feel like I have all the answers. Jesus worked this way, too. He asked 308 questions, he was asked 183 questions, and he directly answered eight questions. Here is the big reason why it works. A good listening environment where people are free to talk without judgment allows the Holy Spirit to enter the conversation.
Let’s look more deeply at the Pentecost crowd; some are willing to listen, while others just want to explain away what they don’t understand. Verses 12-13:
12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
When people don’t understand something, they may first assume the speaker is intoxicated! Beware of the first person who answers a question. Occasionally, the first answer is the best, but often, it is an anxious extrovert who says the first thing that pops into their head. At Pentecost, someone quickly decides everyone is drunk. We all think we understand each other when we are intoxicated. It’s good to step back and breathe a little before answering. A good guideline is the acronym WAIT, W-A-I-T, Why Am I Talking? Think how the world would change if we all asked, “Why am I talking?” before speaking. Fewer apologies are necessary. In the quiet, creative thinkers can emerge.
Questioners and questioning believers in the crowd are willing to respond with a different question. “What does this mean?” It’s so much better to start with curiosity than judgment. Begin with “why.” Things often fail because we don’t ask why and clarify the purpose. Misunderstandings happen when we don’t explore the meaning behind another person’s thoughts and behavior. We just think they are so out of line that they must be drunk because we don’t understand.
What would it mean to be a church known for its deep listening?
Let’s hear Peter’s interpretation of the Pentecost moment, quoting from the prophet Joel:
God declares that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. Joel 2: 28-29
To whom does God speak? Look at what the text says. It doesn’t say God only speaks to experts, clergy, theologians, or only people who have been church members for at least 20 years. All gender identities, all generations, and all socioeconomic levels. If this is true, then the Church must be where all voices have a seat at the table. Who knew the Bible was postmodern even before the modern world was invented? Postmodernism holds that all agents have validity and equal privilege, not just white males or wealthy voices. What postmodernists haven’t figured out is the listening side of things. Being attentive to one another is somewhere the Church can find new relevance. What if we define ourselves as people who can listen intently, a place that is a container for many voices to speak? We are people who know how to listen and discern. Being Church doesn’t mean we have all the answers, and everything must start with “Thus sayeth the Lord." Instead, we could be people who listen to understand how God might be speaking through another, even someone with whom we struggle. A church where everyone agrees isn’t very interesting. A church that deeply listens will be a place of transformation.
Do you want to be amazed and astonished like the crowd at Pentecost? Stop and listen, for wondrous things surround us. Ask the question, “How is it that we can hear each other? What does this mean?” If you believe that God is still speaking, then our most powerful calling is to be fully present, deep listeners, and masters of the art of sacred conversation.
Before you move to all the great Substack writers posting this morning, I would be grateful to hear what spoke to you from this sermon. What phrase stays with you? What is one thing you will hold this week that will help you listen more fully? I’ll meet you in the comments. Have a great week!
Dearest Todd,
This was such an inspiration. My next Substack this week, is called "Love Is." I "listen it" as a parallel to, so resonant with, yours.
It shares a personal story of my first, direct experience of Baba Muktananda, in 1972, through receiving what is called "shaktipat." Baba was a Siddha Guru. I was not in person with him at the time. Nevertheless the fire energy of his blessing coursed through me
Baba, came from the Hindu tradition rather than the Christian, gave me access to my own Baptism of sorts, with the fire and heat of his energy. I now understand Baptism in a new way, a real way. I never really "got it, " or saw it, or "listened it" before your post.
The way you make Jesus real, and the Christian tradition real, and authentic, is SUCH an inspiration to me.
I feel so close to you, kindred spirit that you are. I love James' comment. Here is the full quote, by Catherine de Heck Doherty Poustinia:
With the gift of listening comes the gift of healing, because listening to your brother or your sister until they have said the last words in their hearts is healing and consoling. Someone has said that it is possible to “listen a person’s soul into existence.” I like that.
Listening as healing. Listening as that which allows us to "see" one another through God's eyes. Listening as enwholing. Listening as an opening into creating a new world to live in.
In a beautiful article by Rachel Naomi Remen, on the difference between fix, help, and serve, she says, Do I listen to you as broken (in which case I n need to "fix you" or do I listen to you as whole? In which case I can serve you.
And, she says, "only service heals."
Thank you, thank you thank you, for this post.
I love that you tied in our tendency to fix, how to listen and WAIT into Pentecost. Definitely a recovering fixer over here! Hope you have a lovely Sunday! 🔥🔥🔥